Vice President Kashim Shettima says the courageous and unavoidable reforms being undertaken by President Bola Tinubu’s administration prove the power of political will in economic policy.

Mr Shettima stated this on Tuesday in Abuja during the opening session of the 66th Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society (NES).

He called on African nations to embrace the knowledge economy, saying, “It is a bridge to transform the continent’s economic growth and development through productivity beyond outdated explanations.”

The vice president said that while Nigeria is not immune to the economic challenges Africa has long faced, the nation’s comforting prospect is that it currently has a president with a listening ear.

Describing Mr Tinubu as one with listening ears, Mr Shettima said the president “embarked on bold and inevitable reforms to address structural weaknesses that others before us only paid lip service to.

“These reforms testify to the power of political will in economic policy,” the vice president said, describing their consequences as painful but necessary.

Mr Shettima stressed the need for African nations to get rid of the old-fashioned approach to their economy and embrace structural transformation if they must tackle human capital challenges and unemployment.

“Poverty must be confronted head-on for the promise of this continent to be realised in the lives of our people.

“There is no justification for the low per capita income that afflicts our nations amidst the resources at our disposal,” he said.

Mr Shettima observed that, although geopolitical conflicts, trade protectionism, supply chain disruptions, the energy transition, and the disruptive rise of artificial intelligence may all seem like threats to the continent’s economy, they are opportunities in disguise.

“This is why a society such as yours exists: to light the path of a continent even in the darkest night,” he explained.

Mr Shettima pointed out that it is the mandate that the Annual Conference of the Nigerian Economic Society has been given “to find new pathways to solutions,” while the nation awaits the recommendations.

“Policies in transportation, healthcare, and education have been deliberately targeted at reducing inequality because these are the sectors that affect the weakest among us,” he added.

The vice president commended the president of the Nigerian Economic Society, Adeola Adenikinju, and his team for challenging the nation to reflect on what decades of policy failures and vulnerabilities to global risks have created for Africa.

Minister of Budget and Economic Planning Abubakar Bagudu applauded Mr Shettima’s contributions to the realisation of the economic reforms of Mr Tinubu’s government.

Mr Bagudu assured the NES that it would be fully integrated into all of the ministry’s programmes, especially the preparation and implementation of the development plan and the recently approved Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme.

Also, the Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Maiha, expressed readiness to partner with the NES to brainstorm on the “brilliant ideas” needed to implement Mr Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda for the livestock sector, which he described as “the next crude oil.”

NES president, Mr Adenikinju, reiterated the society’s commitment to collaborating with the Tinubu administration to actualise the goal of genuine economic transformation and national development.

(NAN)